Dr. Angela Fernandez (Faculty of Law, University of Toronto) will give the talk “Not Quite Property, Not Quite Persons: A ‘Quasi’ Approach to Nonhuman Animals” on Tuesday, September 25.
The talk is hosted by the Posthumanism Research Network and the Departments of Political Science and Sociology.
Free event I Open to the public
For more information, view the poster: Angela Fernandez Talk
The Department of Political Science is shocked and appalled by the racist social media comments posted by retired professor Garth Stevenson. The comments do not in any way conform to the values of the department, and we condemn them.
Our department strives to create an atmosphere of respect and inclusion for students and faculty. We understand that President Gervan Fearon and the Senate will soon be discussing the withdrawal of Garth Stevenson’s emeritus status. The department supports this plan.
In addition, we plan to host a public forum in the fall that will address reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Paul Hamilton, Chair
Department of Political Science
Brock University
The Department of Political Science is happy to announce that one of our own, Associate Professor Livianna Tossutti, has won the 2018 Faculty of Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching. In conferring the award, the adjudicating committee highlighted Prof. Tossutti’s commitment to teaching, her work on experiential learning and her embrace of innovative pedagogy in the classroom, as well as student testimonials describing her as “inspiring.” We couldn’t agree more.
Prof. Tossutti will formally receive the award at June Convocation.
Congratulations, Prof. Tossutti!
Thursday, March 1, 2018
10 am
Plaza 600F
In this talk, Dr. David E. Smith, OC, FRSC, will speak to the state of the Senate as a political institution. Specifically, he will discuss whether the Senate is in crisis and what makes the Canadian Senate different from others.
David E. Smith is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University and Professor Emeritus, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. He has taught in the Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, from 1964 to 2004, and is a previous President of the Canadian Political Science Association. His publications include a trilogy of works on each of the parts of Parliament, as well as books on political parties, the constitution, and federalism. The People’s House of Commons: Theories of Democracy in Contention (University of Toronto Press) won the Donner Prize for the best book in Canadian public policy in 2007, and Across the Aisle: Opposition in Canadian Politics (2013), won the Canada Prize in Social Sciences in 2014. His most recent book (2017) is The Constitution in a Hall of Mirrors: Canada at 150 (University of Toronto Press).
For further information, please contact Nicole Goodman, Department of Political Science.
The Department of Political Science Speaker Series presents
Dr. Chelsea Gabel
Canada Research Chair, Indigenous Well-Being, Community-Engagement, and Innovation and Assistant Professor, Department of Health, Aging and Society & Indigenous Studies
Monday, February 12, 1:00 pm
Plaza 600F
The structure of Indigenous families and communities in Canada has been significantly impacted by the effects of colonialism, such as the dispossession of land, disruption in traditional life ways, intergenerational trauma, and the long-term effects of the residential school system. Bringing youth and elders together encourages cross-age connections and facilitates the sharing of cultural knowledge, which positively impacts health and community wellness. Dr. Gabel presents the results of a community-based, participatory action research Photovoice project that improves our understanding of the nature of intergenerational relationships in the southern Labrador Inuit community of St. Lewis, NL, Canada.
Dr. Chelsea Gabel holds a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Well-Being, Community-Engagement and Innovation and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society and the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University. Dr. Gabel is currently leading three SSHRC grants and is involved in a number of research collaborations across Canada that integrate her expertise in community-based participatory research, photovoice, digital technology, intervention research and Indigenous health and well-being. She is also a member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Standing Committee on Ethics that provides high-level strategic advice on the ethical, legal and socio-cultural dimensions of CIHR’s mandate.
For further information, please contact Nicole Goodman.
Monday, January 15, 10:30 am
Plaza 600F
Indigenous scholar Dr. Robert Henry of the discusses his work with Indigenous men and women who were involved in street gangs. Drawing on innovative photovoice methods, Dr. Henry examines the ways in which Indigenous men and women engage in street lifestyles, where the street gang becomes a site of survivance, challenging settler colonialism.
Robert Henry, Ph.D., is Métis from Prince Albert, SK and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, in the Department of Sociology. Robert’s research areas include Indigenous street gangs and gang theories, Indigenous masculinities, Indigenous and critical research methodologies, youth mental health, and visual research methods. Working closely with community partners, he published a collection of narratives from his Ph.D. research titled, Brighter Days Ahead (2014). Robert has also published in the areas of Indigenous masculinity, Indigenous health, youth subcultures, and criminal justice.Preview (opens in a new window)
For further information, please contact Nicole Goodman.
Presented by the Departments of Political Science, History, and Sociology
It is hard for me to imagine the Brock Political Science Department without the presence of Bill Matheson, even though he had been retired for many years. I came to the Department more than thirty years ago, and Professor Matheson exemplified for me everything that was good about Brock University. He loved the university. He gave most of his professional life to the university, and we are all better for his contributions. Professor Matheson’s accomplishments are many, and they bridge university teaching, university administration, scholarship, and community leadership. Surely, though, his greatest legacy is in the thousands of students he taught at Brock.
A word of advice that Bill Matheson gave to me as a young novice professor: “be careful what you say and what you do: after a decade here, everywhere you go in the Niagara Region, there will be students, present and former, who greet you and remember you.” It was good advice, although almost none of us in the Political Science Department has had as many students travel through our classes. For generations of Political Science students, Professor Matheson’s legendary first year lectures were their introduction to the discipline. The great political thinker Hannah Arendt commented on more than one occasion that for some individuals the ‘who’ of a person – his presence – is greater than the sum of his accomplishments. Think of those lucky thousands of Brock students who got to experience the ‘who’ of Professor Matheson.
– Leah Bradshaw
“Bill Matheson’s legacy was anything but common,” The Brock News, December 12, 2017.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
10:30 am
Plaza 600F
Interested in learning how technologies are changing the game of data collection and research? What about how you can leverage and apply this in your own research?
From Voice to AI, VR, marketing automation, connected devices and the Internet of Things; society is moving away from traditional methods of data collection and harnessing emerging technologies to gather consumer insights in real-time. Listen to a top Canadian entrepreneur share how brands are applying technologies in innovative ways to tap into their customers and solve today’s business challenges, and how faculty and students can apply these technologies for research.
Listen to a top Canadian entrepreneur share how brands are applying technologies in innovative ways to tap into their customers and solve today’s business challenges, and how faculty and students can apply these technologies for research.
Adam Froman is an award-winning entrepreneur and innovator. As the founder and CEO of Delvinia, he is recognized as a visionary business leader who has grown his firm into a globally competitive group of companies over the course of the past two decades.
Under Adam’s leadership, Delvinia has evolved from operating as a traditional digital consultancy to become an innovation company that invests in identifying ways to bring next-generation products, services, and businesses to market. Adam’s portfolio of successful digital businesses – each with a focus on innovative data collection – includes AskingCanadians, AskingAmericans, Delvinia Custom Solutions, and Methodify.
In addition to guiding the growth of his organization, Adam is an active member of the Canadian Marketing Association and the Marketing Research & Intelligence Association. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Council of Canadian Innovators, a business council exclusively focused on helping high-growth Canadian technology firms scale-up globally.
For further information, please contact Nicole Goodman.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
10:30 a.m.
Welch Hall 311
Current systems designed to support innovation are not structured to draw diverse people with different life experiences and challenges into innovation spaces. Practically speaking, a person who has experienced a life challenge directly is the most likely to innovate: in effect, to solve their own problems, however innovation policy is rarely conceived with diversity in mind (Macdonald, 1992).
Dr. Andrea Rowe will present perspectives on Gender Equality & Diversity in national innovation systems in Canada and Sweden. Her research is the first of its kind to look at Canada’s national innovation system through a gender lens. Drawing on 44 qualitative interviews with leaders in government, academia, and the private sector in Canada, Sweden, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Dr. Rowe draws on Feminist Institutionalism (FI) and Triple Helix Models in innovation theory to explain the gendered implication of policy, performance measurement, and resource allocation at the national level. The talk will conclude with recommendations for policy and practice.
Dr. Rowe is Co-Founder of of Toronto based gender and innovation consulting firm Feminuity and has a PhD in Comparative Public Policy from McMaster University. Dr. Rowe’s academic research focuses on explaining how government policy, performance measurement, and resources allocation influences equality of opportunity in national innovation systems.
For further information, please contact Nicole Goodman at ngoodman2@brocku.ca.
Citizenfour (2014, documentary, dir: Laura Poitras)
Winner, Oscar for Best Documentary
Wednesday, March 29, 8 pm
The Film House
250 St. Paul St. W., St. Catharines
Brock University’s Department of Political Science invites you to a screening and discussion of Citizenfour, the final film in our 2016-17 Politics and Film series. Laura Poitras’ award-winning documentary takes us behind the scenes of Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations that the United States government was, and continues to, engage in constant global surveillance of all online activity. These revelations caused an international uproar that continue to reverberate to this day.
This award-winning documentary raises critical questions about the far-reaching effects of ubiquitous state surveillance, and the threat it poses to individuals’ private lives and democracy itself. With US and Canadian border officials increasingly demanding that travelers turn over their social-media passwords, the problems posed by government surveillance are only beginning to be fully understood.
The screening will be followed by a discussion and audience Q&A with Karen Louise Smith, Assistant Professor of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, and an expert in the implications of digital privacy in the everyday lives of citizens. She will discuss the data trails we each leave behind, across physical and digital spaces.
Citizenfour is presented in conjunction with the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Film House. Tickets are $9 (general admission) and $7 for Film House members. Tickets can be bought online or by calling the box office at 905-688-0722. Tickets are also available the day of show.
For further information, please contact Blayne Haggart (bhaggart@brocku.ca).
